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God Slayers - Page 77 - High Res

Riley is so much fun to write for.  But it's also a mind-crushing thought experiment to get it right.

Weekly Update 29

I think it's cute when she's trying to explain stuff.  Not much else to say today, this week should be business as usual.  I've struck a good balance, I think, between drawing a background that looks like it's full of garbage and not having it take me 100 hours per panel.  At least for now I'm satisfied with the technique.

Figured out that my first (public) post this year was actually Page 40, so I'll hit my goal for the year if page 80 goes public before the end of Decem...

Getting Ready

At what point does a sketch stop being a sketch?

I hate how hard it is to get his face right at this angle.

God Slayers - Page 76

Please bear with me as we explore Riley's mental illness in this chapter and her role in the comic in general.  Other characters in the story see her as "crazy" and "dangerous" but I hope over time you will come to understand how many layers she really has.

God Slayers - Page 76 - High Res

So high def, you can even see her whiskers!

Weekly Update 28

We've known Riley for all of 2 minutes and she's already done something bad?

In any case, I've taken to reevaluate how I'm promoting the comic and decided to try and do a bit more of that.  I'm growing more confident in the fact that this comic is a REAL THING that I'm proud to show others, so I'll likely be applying to put up an ad on FA as soon as I've fixed up the design a little bit.  I've also created a Telegram group for posting announcements alongside Twitter at 2020-09-07 17:48:23 +0000 UTC View Post

Kuserra style D&D

I thought it would be interesting to explore certain elements of the cast's different personalities by thinking about what kind of characters they might play in a casual game of D&D. The DM was going to be the soup guy from Chapter 1, but he ultimately didn't fit in the frame.

Too bad most of the characters don't get along quite as well as is shown here. 

God Slayers - Page 75 - High Res

Look how cute she is!  JUST LOOK!

God Slayers - Page 75

I really struggled with that top panel here.  Never got the colors right.  Sure it's a bright shiny day, but it's also Kuserra... eh...  I could slave over it for probably another 200 hours but at some point I have to just call it done and move on.

Edit:  Kiva had whiskers all along, shhh!

Weekly Update 27

Back home after travelling!  Fun times had by all!  Then I realized that I wasn't nearly as far along on page 75 as I thought I was, so getting a comic out this week will be pretty tough.  I still think I can do it though!  Mandatory Overtime mode, GO!

Working on Page 75

Playing Total War: Warhammer 2 because I have to kill-kill all the man-things.

Other:  Business as usual!

Concept for Riley's Place

This is a rough concept I made when trying to come up with a design for Riley's workshop. I always envisioned it as a kind of warehouse, filled to the brim with *stuff*

Ultimately I settled on making it an airplane hanger that had been slightly altered by a curious and oft distracted feline.

Comfy Max

Drew some cute pictures of Max this week in the mountains. Enjoy!
Another Friday sketch this week, regular posts resume next Wednesday.

Friday Sketch - Only You

 Max serenades Kiva at the club where he performs.

Just a quick reminder I'll be out of town all next week, so I'll try to post some sketches or something, but no new comic. Thanks for reading!

God Slayers - Page 74

Aww, even Betty knows that Kiva's secretly a nice guy.

God Slayers - Page 74 - High Res

I probably should have used this page to practice how I draw hands, but instead I was focused on trying to lay out the order of events so their transaction made sense, visually.

Weekly Update 26

I love her, lol.  I know I've probably mentioned it a thousand times already but it's kind of awesome when a character wrests a bigger role for themselves despite my original planning.

So, I kinda slogged through page 74, but it's done now, so I went ahead and got a head start on Page 75... it's coming along quite nicely!

Thinking of changing up the format a bit more on these weekly updates just so they aren't quite so redundant all the time.

Working:  Page 75

Max Performing

 My sketches are becoming less and less sketch-like. But... I like color, and I also want them to look good, so oh well.

I've had plenty of practice drawing Kiera thanks to Chapter 4, I'm getting plenty drawing Kiva on literally every page. I'm gonna get plenty of practice drawing Riley in Chapter 5, so here's one of Max! Doing that thing he do! 

God Slayers - Page 73 - High Res

I actually wasn't very happy with how that first panel turned out, so I spent almost all day yesterday painting over it with the wreckage you see there.  That aligns a bit more closely with how I actually WANT Kuserra's streets to look, but damn is it exhausting.  =-=

It's going to be a technique I'll need to really develop and get faster at...

God Slayers - Page 73

The first page of Chapter 5!  I'm torn whether or not I should actually mention I'm trying some new fonts.  If it's a good change, you shouldn't notice it.  By mentioning it, I'm specifically calling attention to it and ergo making it more likely you will form an opinion about it.

So just pretend I said nothing!  Thanks for reading!

Weekly Update 25

Busy busy, travel and packing and prepping, but I'm going to work really hard to make sure a comic goes out this week.

Today:  Trying to finish up Page 73, the first page for Chapter 5!

Tonight:  Still probably drawing Page 73

Tomorrow:  Definitely drawing more Page 73.

Other stuff:  We got in touch with a realtor and started making progress towards getting our house listed.  Then our trip got pushed back a week to better align with meetings an...

The Max Smile

When I think of each one of my characters, they each have this sort of... default expression in my mind that I associate with each of them. Kind of their default mode. I had this silly idea last week to try to draw other characters attempting to mimic each other's default expressions, except in their own unique ways, letting a little bit of each character's personality through. It seems like good practice, in any case.

This is everyone trying to mimic Max's kinda dopey smile. How'd ...

God Slayers - Page 72 - High Res

I actually really like how this page turned out.  The characters have talked about the canals before, but I haven't shown them yet at all.  I really enjoy showing off different parts of the city.

God Slayers - Page 72

These end-chapter cards are the reason I screwed up my page numbering scheme.  This is technically page 72.  It is also the end of Chapter 4.  When labeling them, I preferred the latter title over the former, since it isn't really a full page, but then that would cause the page numbering to jump from 71 to 73, which might be confusing.  So... whatever, here's page 72.  It's the end of Chapter 4.

Weekly Update - 24

Someone mentioned that the font I've been using didn't quite fit with the comic, and I agreed with them.  Problem is, to me, there's two kinds of fonts.  Ones I can read (Arial Bold), and ones I cannot (Wingdings).  Since, basically all fonts fall under one of those two categories for me, I find choosing a font quite difficult!

Today:  The final page of Chapter 4!

Tonight:  Playing more 7 Days to Die or watching Doom Patrol maybe.

Tomorrow: Finishing...

Friday Sketch - She's Okay.

You know I nearly chickened out on posting this, but, well, fuck it. None of you have even met Riley in the comic yet, and I have about four more pages to draw before she debuts in Chapter 5. I've already started to sorta touch on some of this stuff in previous sketch posts already though. By this point, I've had to learn and write every minute detail about this character, and I've done a fair bit of research into her mental illnesses, because not only do I find them fascinating, but I really...

God Slayers - Page 71 - High Res

I should probably figure out something to put here.  Lore?  I dunno.

God Slayers - Page 71

This will wrap up Chapter 4!

Weekly Update 23

I find that this shade of red helps me to identify when the base grey color is leaking out of the lines.  Anyway, you can see this week's page still has a ways to go yet, but if I really focus today and tomorrow, it should be good to post this week.

Today:  Page 71

Tonight:  More 7 Days to Die, maybe?

Tomorrow:  Finishing Page 71 (and finishing the chapter, woo!)

Other stuff:  So we started the process of buying a house.  It's just a lot o...

Friday Sketch - Kiva Compliment

 This might be the nicest thing Kiva's ever said to anyone! He must be in a ~good mood. 

God Slayers - Page 70

I dunno, I'm running out of things to say here.  Thanks for reading!